Commodore PC User manual

Commodore
PERSONAL COMPUTEB
• MS-DOS® 3.2
User's Guide
• MS-DOS® 3.2
User's Reference

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COMMODORE PC
o PERSONAL COMPUTER
■ • MS-DOS User's Guide
r~i • MS-DOS User's Reference
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Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not
represent a commitment on the part of Commodore Business Machines or the
Microsoft Corporation. The software described in this document is furnished under
a license agreement or non-disclosure agreement. The software may be used or
copied only in accordance with the terms of that agreement. It is against the law to li
copy the MS-DOS Disk Operating System on magnetic tape, disk, or any other
medium for any purpose other than the purchaser's personal use.
Copyright © 1987 Commodore Electronics Limited.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © Microsoft Corporation, 1984, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987.
All rights reserved. i J
Commodore is a registered trademark of Commodore Electronics Limited.
Microsoft®, MS-DOS®, GW-BASIC® and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks
of Microsoft Corporation.
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USER'S MANUAL STATEMENT
WARNING:
f ^) This equipment has been certified to comply with the limits for a Class B computing device, pursuant
to subpart J of Part 15 of the Federal Communications Commission's rules, which are designed to
provide reasonable protection against radio and television interference in a residential installation. If
not installed properly, in strict accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, it may cause such
interference. If you suspect interference, you can test this equipment by turning it off and on. If this
equipment does cause interference, correct it by doing any of the following:
• Reorient the receiving antenna or AC plug.
(] • Change the relative positions of the computer and the receiver.
• Plug the computer into a different outlet so the computer and receiver
are on different circuits.
(] CAUTION: Only peripherals with shield-grounded cables (computer
input-output devices, terminals, printers, etc.), certified to comply with
Class B limits, can be attached to this computer. Operation with non-
certified peripherals is likely to result in communications interference.
Your house AC wall receptacle must be a three-pronged type (AC
ground). If not, contact an electrician to install the proper receptacle. If
a multi-connector box is used to connect the computer and peripherals
to AC, the ground must be common to all units.
If necessary, consult your Commodore dealer or an experienced radio-television technician for addi
tional suggestions. You may find the following FCC booklet helpful: "How to Identify and Resolve
Radio-TV Interference Problems." The booklet is available from the U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, stock no. 004-000-00345-4.
This manual contains copyrighted and proprietary information. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
ftm*^ mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Commo-
f \ dore Electronics Limited.
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User's Guide
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Contents
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Welcome v
What is ms-dos? vi
Before You Begin vi
How to Use This Guide viii
1 Learning About ms-dos 1
Terms You Should Know 2
Program 2
File 2
Filename 3
Directory 3
Volume Label 3
Disk drive 3
Drive name 4
Commands 5
Keys You Use with ms-dos 5
Special Keys 6
Control Key Combinations 6
The Return Key 7
2 Learning About Disks, Files, and Directories
Floppy Disks 10
Disk Protection 11
Hard Disks 12
The Format Command 13
How to Name Your Files 13
Invalid Filenames 14
Directories 14
3 Getting Started 17
How to Start ms-dos 17
How to Quit 19
How to Make a Backup Copy of Your ms-dos Disk
If You Have a Hard Disk 21
If You Have Only One Floppy Disk Drive 23
19

iv Contents
4 Using Commands 25
File Commands 25
The Dir Command 25 ( j
The Copy Command 27 ^^^
The Del Command 28
The Rename Command 29
The Type Command 29
The Print Command 30
Disk Commands 31
The Format Command 31
The Diskcopy Command 33
5 Using Applications with ms-dos 35 i \
How to Run Application Programs 35 —^
How to Create a File with Edlin 36
Summary 38
Terms 39
Index 43
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O Welcome
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Welcome to the ms-dos® operating system, version 32. What you
have before you are two manuals: the MS-DOS User's Guide and
MS-DOS User's Reference. If you are learning MS-DOS for the first
time, or if you have used it before, these two manuals will intro
duce you to and explain both basic and advanced features of the
ms-dos operating system. Go at your own pace, though; you're not
expected to read every word, or know every feature. But the
more you learn about ms-dos the easier you'll find it to use.
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vi MS-DOS User's Guide
Introducing ms-dos
What is MS-DOS?
The Microsoft® ms-dos operating system is like a translator
between you and your computer. Basically, this translator is a
series of programs, making up what is called the ms-dos operating
system. The programs in this operating system let you communi
cate with your computer, your disk drives, and your printer, let
ting you manage these resources to your advantage.
ms-dos is more than just a translator, though. It is also a disk
operating system. This means that you can use ms-dos programs on
computers with floppy disks or hard disks. Once you have loaded
ms-dos into your computer's memory, you can compose letters
and reports, run programs and languages such as Microsoft
gw-basic®, and use devices such as printers and disk drives.
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System requirements Before YOU Begin
Before you begin using this book you should have:
■ A 16-bit personal computer that runs ms-dos and has at least
256K bytes of memory.
■ Two disk drives (either two floppy disk drives, or one hard
disk drive and one floppy disk drive).
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^ms-dos master disk
The following manuals-
MS-
MS-DOS
, the basics of ms-dos.
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MS-DOS
r^ Programmers
[ i Reference
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I viii MS-DOS User's Guide
How to Use This Guide
This manual introduces you to the ms-dos operating system and i J
teaches you how to use several ms-dos features. The manual is ^"*^
organized so that you can easily find what you need to know,
as in the following list, which gives you a quick overview of the , <
topics covered. v_y
Turn to To learn
Chapter 1 About your keyboard
Chapter 2 About disks and files
Chapter 3 How to start ms-dos
How to quit ms-dos
Chapter 4 How to use ms-dos commands
How to print a file
Chapter 5 How to run a program
How to create a file
Terms About ms-dos terminology
To learn more about ms-dos refer to the MS-DOS User's Reference.
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1 Learning About MS-DOS
In this chapter you will learn about:
■ Important ms-dos terms
■ The ms-dos keyboard

2 MS-DOS User's Guide
Introducing ms-dos
terms
Terms You Should Know
When you are introduced to a new or different idea, you must
often learn a new set of words to understand the idea. The ms-dos
operating system is no exception. The following pages explain
some terms you will need to know so that you can read and use
this manual.
Program
Programs, often called application programs, applications, or
software, are series of instructions written in computer languages.
These instructions are stored in files and tell your computer to
perform a task. For example, a program might tell your computer
to alphabetically sort a list of names.
File
A file is a collection of related information, like the contents of a
file folder in a desk drawer. File folders, for instance, might con
tain business letters, office memos, or monthly sales data. Files on
your disks could also contain letters, memos, or data.
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Learning About ms-dos 31
Filename
,-v Just as each folder in a file cabinet has a label, each file on a disk
\ ' has a name. This name has two parts: a filename and an exten
sion. A filename can be from 1 to 8 characters in length, and can
be typed in uppercase or lowercase letters, ms-dos automatically
r^i converts filenames to uppercase letters.
Filename extensions consist of a period followed by one, two, or
^mK^ three characters. Extensions are optional, but it's a good idea to
f) use them, since they are useful for describing the contents of a
file to you and to ms-dos. For instance, if you want to be able to
quickly identify your report files, you can add the filename exten-
f~\ sion .rpt to each one. Here's an example of a filename with this
extension:
progress.rpt
I filename
Directory
filename extension
A directory is a table of contents for a disk. It contains the names
/-—s of your files, their sizes, and the dates they were last modified.
When you look at the directory on your ms-dos master disk, you
will see many files with the extension .exe or .com. The extension
/*~\ .exe means executable, and .com means command. These exten
sions tell ms-dos that the files are programs that can be run. Many
files will have other kinds of extensions, such as .doc and .txt,
n which might contain text. Another common program file exten
sion is .has for basic programs.
^ Volume Label
When you use a new disk, you can put a label on the outside of
it to help you identify its contents. You can also give each of your
^-^ disks an internal name, called a volume label.
You can look at the volume label on a disk by displaying its direc
tory. Some programs may look at the volume label to see if you
(~*\ are using the correct disk. So make sure that you label your disks.
Disk Drive
' Floppy disk drives are commonly referred to as the A drive and
the B drive; a hard disk is usually referred to as the C drive.
^^ Check your computer manual to see which drive is A and which
(1 is B (or C).

4 MS-DOS User's Guide
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Floppy disk drive
Hard disk drive
Drive Name
A complete drive name consists of a drive letter and a colon.
When using a command, you may need to type a drive name
before your filename to tell ms-dos where to find the disk that
contains your file. For example, suppose you have a file named
finances, doc on the disk in drive B. To tell ms-dos where to find
this file you would type the drive name before the filename:
b:f i nances.doc
drive name I filename with extension
If you don't specify a drive name when you type a filename,
ms-dos automatically searches for the file on the disk in the
default drive. To let you know that it is ready to receive a com
mand, ms-dos displays a prompt that contains the default drive
letter followed by a greater-than sign. Following the prompt on
your screen is the cursor, the small box or flashing underline that
shows where the next character you type will appear.
Example
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I cursor
MS-DOS prompt
So when your prompt is A>, msdos searches only the disk in
drive A for files and programs — unless you tell it to search in
another drive.
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Learning About ms-dos 5
If you will be working primarily with files on drive B, it is easier
to change the default drive to B, so that you won't have to type
>-*k the letter b, followed by a colon, with every command and
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filename.
Command
Just as you will run programs to create and update files containing
your data, you will also need to run some special programs, called
ms-dos commands, that let you manipulate entire files.
When you give ms-dos certain commands, you are asking the com
puter to perform tasks. For example, when you use the diskcopy
command to copy your ms-dos master disk, you are running a pro
gram named diskcopy on the ms-dos disk.
Other ms-dos commands:
■ Compare, copy, display, delete, and rename files
■ Copy, format, and label disks
■ Run your programs, as well as those supplied with ms-dos such
as edlin
■ List directories
■ Enter the date and time
■ Set printer and screen options
Chapter 4, "Using Commands," contains more information on
ms-dos commands. In addition, the MS-DOS User's Reference con
tains detailed descriptions for each MS-DOS command.
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Keys You Use with MS-DOS
Now that you've learned about ms-dos commands, files, drives,
etc., next you'll learn about the keys you will be using.
In addition to the keys you'd find on a typewriter, your computer
keyboard has some keys that have special meanings to MS-DOS.
First, note that there are two important differences between a
typewriter keyboard and a computer keyboard:
The ms-dos keyboard
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L
A computer understands the difference
between a one and a lowercase L. Be sure
you don't type a lowercase L when you
mean a one.

6 MS-DOS User's Guide
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Special Keys
SPACEBAR
t
—
BKSP
Capital O and zero may look alike, but
they have different meanings to a com
puter. Many computers display a zero
with a diagonal line (0) through it.
Make sure you type the correct letter
or number when you give commands
tO MS-DOS.
The spacebar moves the cursor to the
right. But to move the cursor along a line
without deleting any characters, use the
direction keys.
Direction keys move the cursor right,
left, up, and down. They do not affect the
characters that are displayed. Some pro
grams ignore these keys or do not use
them.
In these manuals, the direction
keys are also referred to as the right,
left, up, and down arrow keys.
To correct typing mistakes on the current
line, you use the backspace key (abbrevi
ated as bksp). This key deletes characters
as it moves the cursor to the left.
Control Key Combinations
CTRL
CTRL
-
S
CTRL
CTRL
-
-
C
ALT
- DEL
The control key (abbreviated as ctrl)
has a special task. It lets you give com
plex commands to your computer by
pressing only two or three keys. You
must hold down the control key while
you press another key. That is, you use
the control key as you would the
shift key.
When you press the control key and the
s key at the same time, you can stop the
scrolling of the screen display. Then to
continue scrolling, press controls again.
When you press the control key and the
c key at the same time, you can stop a
command.
If you want to start (or restart) ms-dos,
press the control, alt, and del keys at
the same time.
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